How To Have Disturbing Dreams

Lately, I've been remembering my dreams more than I normally would. When you're pregnant, you often wake up during the middle of the night to use the restroom, find a comfortable position, or hit the dog for stepping on (and scratching) your already tender boob. And they say that when you wake up from a dream, you're more likely to remember said dream. As all my dreams usually are, the ones of late have been influenced by tv, friends, work, and recent conversations. However, these are more vivid and scarier than I can remember.

Here's an example: SyFy is currently running it's 31 Days of Halloween where lots and lots of scary or supposedly scary films are shown. One of my favorites is Wrong Turn. So, when I saw there was a Wrong Turn 2 and 3, I instantly set the DVR for them to record. As I expected, both were absolutely terrible, but for some reason, I love that junk! Bad acting, gore, awful story lines, it's all awesome! The only downside was I found myself running through the woods, half naked, being chased by deformed creature-people in the middle of the night. It was not so much fun waking up to this and a missing Alex at 2:20 in the morning. I was happy that I still had 3 1/2 hours to sleep, but would have been even happier if I could have fallen asleep right away and not have dreamed about these incestuous creature-people. Vampires would have been better. I mean, at least we know they aren't real, right?! 

Another example: one of my close friends and going through a rough patch and I haven't spoken to her in quite a bit. I have no idea what she's going through, so my mind has started to create stories as to what's going on. I have had FOUR separate dreams about her. Knowing this friend, the stories are so extreme and things that she would never, ever, ever, ever do! I mean, an affair, murder, tax evasion (must have been a work-induced thought) and an unwanted pregnancy.

So, what's the moral of the story? Don't make this the most exciting part of my day or consume my every thought. I mean, I refuse to cut out those movies or stop worrying about my friends, but I need to focus my non-work thoughts elsewhere. Any suggestions on where that should be?

Happy Dreaming!

--Am

How To Start a New Job

Most of you know that I started a new job about three weeks ago. One of my good friends is moving to Florida and therefore, leaving her position open. She had asked me back in June if I was interested and at first, I said no, thinking how happy I was at my then current job. Then I thought a little bit about it and realized that the best part about my current job was the people. The rest was just stress, stress, stress. So, I went back to her and said, "you know what? I am interested. Tell me all about it!" And over the course of two months, I turned in my resume, was called in for two separate interviews, and was offered the job of Accounting Manager for Park Tudor School. And no, I'm not going to be teaching any classes or taking over the former AM's job of Volleyball Coach. That would just be bad news for everyone!

I was ecstatic! Everything about the job seemed perfect with the exception of a longer drive. But, hey, it is mostly interstate and not at all bad. I broke the news to Heartland and gave a little over two weeks notice. My first day at PT was Monday, Sept. 12th. I was so excited and nervous at the same time--just like the first day of school. :) Everyone I met was awesome and I was settling in great at my first day. The only problem was that I had to tell the CFO of my pregnancy. Yep, I didn't say anything during the interview process as I didn't want that to sway the decision in any way. I knew I'd be perfect for it, pregnant or not. So, on my first day, I broke it to her that I was 14 weeks along. It went a little something like this (speaking very quickly)..."So, I'm not really sure how to say this, but this isn't how I wanted to start, but I'm 14 weeks pregnant." Whew! She was very understanding and understood that it was going to happening sooner or later, just a little sooner than expected. All in all, it was a good conversation. And it just so works out that part of my leave is expected to be over spring break, which is two weeks. 

I've been there three weeks now and things are going very well! Not only are the people extremely fantastic, but I have almost two months learning the ropes from the person who has done the job the past couple years. It also helps that we are super good friends. Thanks so much Sarah! Without her help, easing into the job would not have been as smooth as it has been. Also, without her, I wouldn't have a had this opportunity in the first place. I owe it all to Sarah and can't say thank you enough!!  I'm just going to be sad when she leaves :(

To all of you looking for jobs, I hope you're as lucky as I have been and have something fantastic fall in your lap!

Happy Job Hunting!
--Am 

How To Get Preggo

Most of our friends and family know that Alex and I would like to have a family someday. You may also know that we've been hoping to make that a reality sometime this year. It seems that most people I know who are pregnant or recently pregnant got pregnant very easily. A couple of them by mistake. So I thought and assumed (BIG mistake) that it would happen right away. Wrong! (as most of my assumptions usually are.) We tried for three months and no luck, just lots of sad times when Red emerged from her slumber.

Our next step was to try the ovulation sticks. Hopefully, this would pinpoint a good time for us to get it on and make a baby. We tried this for two months. Geez, I never thought I'd be peeing on so many sticks! With that method, we weren't having any luck. So, we decide to make an appointment with my ob/gyn to see if she had any suggestions. I knew it was probably too soon and she would want us to wait, but I wanted to be reassured that everything was ok with us. I always jump to the worst conclusion and think that I have something totally abnormal about me. Our appt was on Thursday, June 30th. I would hate to say it was a waste of time, but it was! She told us we were fine and that we just needed to keep trying. SUCK!

Well, the Friday after our appt (7/1) I decided it would be fun to take a pregnancy test (not sure why, but the mood struck me). I was due to start anytime between Saturday and Monday, but we had some of the early detection tests (First Response), so thought I'd give it a whirl. Well, two lines emerged. I'd never seen one with two lines, so I had to run it by Alex to see what he thought. Looked like pregnant to me. Alex went out later and got another pack of three tests. I proceeded to take one each morning on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. All came back positive! And finally on Wednesday (7/6), I took a digital test to confirm. Well, PREGNANT was the answer! Talk about a range of emotions, but THRILLED was the overwhelming response. We are so excited for this journey we are embarking on and how it will forever change our lives!!

And I promise that this will not be the entire focus for the blog. Of course, there will be stories that arise from it, but hopefully, there are other things in my life that are exciting enough to write about! :)

Happy Pregnant Me!
--Am

How To Be a Little OCD

First of all, I would like to say that I have not been clinically diagnosed with OCD and I do not mean to poke fun at anyone with a serious disorder. Second, whoa busy time of my life right now! Which, in turn, has caused my OCD to spike. I'm not a germophobe. I don't have to touch things many times. I don't pull out my hair or pick at my skin. See I'm OCD when it comes to information and knowing things. For example, once I start reading a book or watching a movie, I have to finish it no matter how much I hate it. I am so afraid that I am going to miss something important. When I'm on aol.com, I feel like I need to look through every feed, even if there are 30. It's really annoying.

I follow many different blogs and feel like I need to look at every single post. I. CAN'T. MISS. ANYTHING. If I skip a day, I will make sure to look at the missed posts the next day. Recently, I have not been keeping up with things. In fact, I don't think I've looked at any of the blogs I follow for the past two weeks. I just started a new job on Monday and I was super busy wrapping up the old job before that, that I had no time to keep up with my blogs. Now I'm trying to determine if I go back and read ALL the blogs or if I can handle it to only catch up on certain blogs. This is a tough decision as I'm so afraid I'm going to miss something life-changing. I realize that's probably not the case, but it still sits there in the back of my mind. So, what do you think? Should I catch up on ALL of them or just a select few? What do you think I will do? I guess we'll see!!   

To all of my other mildly OCD friends, I feel your pain. But, it's time to move passed it!
Happy Obsessing!
--Am

How To Celebrate 29 Years of Life

On August 10th, I turned 29. One year left before I'm 30! I really don't feel old and I don't have a problem getting old. I think because I've always looked so young, I am always excited to get older. That may sound a little weird and maybe it is, but that's me! Plus, birthdays are awesome. I mean, what other day is all about you. Did I mention that I'm a little selfish? I love celebrating me! :)

So here's what the day had in store for me. I arrive at work to dino puppets and my very own Ambersaurus cake! What makes this cake even more special was that it was the first box cake that Claire Norton has ever made. For those of you that don't know her, she is Heartland's resident baker, sewer, and all things homemade! Not that I wouldn't have loved a made-from-scratch-cake, but the fact that it was something that she doesn't normally do made it special. And on top of all of that, Regan (Claire's husband) helped make it. You guys are awesome!

ambersaurus

We proceeded to lunch at the Tamale Place where I had the best pork tamale I have ever tried. For those of you that have never been there, it's worth a venture to the westside of Indy. Absolutely delicious! Plus you get a ton of food for a decent price. I headed home around normal time and arrived to a beautiful bouquet of crazy daisies and a sweet card from my hubby. What a guy!!

 crazy daisies and card

 vibrant colors

 i just love daisies

I didn't have much time at home before it was time to head off to dinner at Oceanaire. I almost always choose this restaurant for my birthday dinner because I love seafood, how the menu has Happy Birthday Amber at the top, and baked Alaska. If you've never been, make sure you go on a special occasion and tell them when booking the reservation what you are celebrating. It made my day even more special! 

menu--look at how special I am :)

Happy Birthday Celebrating!

--Am

How To Increase Your Furry Family

A little over a year ago, we decided it was time that Daisie get a playmate. I spent much of my downtime searching through petfinder for the most perfect companion. We knew we didn't want a puppy (no time to train it), so we looked for one that was young, but not a pup. We found one that looked like a beagle mix. I really struggled about if she were the one because she hadn't been fixed yet and not sure how Daisie would be with another girl. It must not have been right because we held off too long and someone else snatched her up. I did however find Chunky Monkey ("Chunky").

There were lots of puppy pics up and very few current pics up. I thought he was so cute as a puppy that he had to be cute as an adult. Alex didn't quite think so. He was very hesitant, but I pushed and pushed until he said we could check him out. Chunky was currently with a family that was finding him a little harder to handle than they had hoped. I talked a little with the original foster mom and some with the current family. We found out that he would fit in just fine, so we established a time for him to meet Daisie. I remember it like it was yesterday!

We got lost going out there and were about 15 minutes late to our meeting. Alex was already not happy with me and I was really nervous. When we finally made it, we saw Chunky and knew that it would be perfect. He looked like he belonged. He was super friendly with us, but we wanted Daisie to be happy as well. They both sniffed each other and decided that they could friends. The family asked if we wanted to take him home for the weekend, but we thought we should wait it out. Yeah right! That lasted 15 seconds. We decided we would take him home for the weekend and see how it would go. The Storey's were very generous and gave us everything they had for him (Thank You!). We took him home and he's been a Markov ever since! 

We immediately changed his name to Dodger (he was too thin for a Chunky Monkey). We had to work on some chewing issues and running away, but we eventually got there. He is such a fantastic dog and loverboy. During the day he wants to play and be everyone's friend, but at night, he wants to cuddle and be as close to you as possible. Unlike Daisie who gives big, wet kisses, Dodger gives short, sandpaper kisses. He's such a sweet boy and we couldn't have asked for more. 

dodger hoping he gets a treat

i love my new friend! Dodger (left) and Daisie tuckered out from the cabin

I hope everyone out there has a dog as sweet and fun as ours! Oh and I considered him a rescue because he was going to go back into foster care. Please save a life and not buy!

Happy Rescuing!

--Am

How To Vacation in Upstate New York

The last weekend in July, Al and I traveled to Cortland, NY to visit his mom and stepdad. Katherine took a job up there and has been living there since March. It's a cute, little town that is not very different from parts of Indiana. In fact, a lot of the countryside looks like southern Indiana with more hills. When most people hear NY, they don't think of countryside, but instead think of noise and busyness. Cortland is quite the opposite. It's quiet, old-school, a little run-down in parts, and adorable.

We arrived in Syracuse on Friday afternoon and stopped off to have lunch at a fine NY eatery: Burger King. We were really hungry and I really, really wanted a chicken sandwich! :) After lunch we headed to Cortland, where I proceeded to take a nap until dinner. Traveling is tiring! We had dinner at an Italian restaurant (of which there are many). I had scallops fra diavolo, which I would normally love, but the scallops didn't taste as I had hoped. The sauce was different than I expected, but it was a good different.

On Saturday, we headed towards Cooperstown, baseball capital of the world. It was a bit of a drive out there (a little over 2 hours) and we chose a bad weekend to go. It was induction weekend, so it was packed to the gills. We spent some time walking down, then back up main street, before stopping in at the farmer's market. Here, we were able to get a ton of veggies and desserts to be consumed that evening. Before leaving we stopped off and had some true to NY pizza. Later that evening we had steak, potatoes, fresh veggies, and tomatoes for dinner. We had strawberry rhubarb pie and blueberry crumb pie for dessert while we played Conga (a Cranium spin-off). Before that though, we had to make playdough, as all the clay in the house was crystallized! Al and his mom made it, while Brent and I watched. We ended with some fabulous light green playdough. 

On Sunday we attended church and met a lot of the folks we'd been hearing about all weekend. It's a very old-style church with nothing but friendly people. We spent the afternoon at Treman (pronounced Tremain) State Park in Ithaca hiking the gorgeous gorges. We were hoping to wade a little in Buttermilk Falls, but it was dry. However, we were very glad to have stumbled upon Treman. It was positively breathtaking at times. We stopped in at Wegmans for snacks and headed back home for dinner at The Hollywood. Some of the best stuffed shells ever!

Monday was a quick trip to the nature conservatory, a pop in at the Bling Store, and lunch at Pita Gourmet. Then it was off to the Syracuse airport to find out that our plane was severely delayed and we would miss our connecting flight. We had the choice to fly out that night and hope to get a hotel in Washington Dulles or to stay at the Best Western and take a 5:40 am flight to Philly then Indy. We chose the BW, which might not have been the best, but it worked. Instead of being home at midnight, we were home at 11am. Needless to say I fell asleep at 7 that night. Again traveling is tiring!!

All in all, it was a great trip! It was funny seeing the folks and playing with the pups. Milo sure does miss Alex. It's very cute to watch him follow him around the house. Lots of thanks to Katherine and Brent for opening their home to us. We really enjoyed our time spent in Cortland!!

Happy Visiting!
--Am